martin_sam_2000 Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 hey all. I was at the Geneseo airshow this past weekend and I was lucky enough to get a ride on the Vintage Wings of Canada Supermarine Spitfire MkXVI. Due to the extreme nose heaviness of the aircraft on the ground coupled with the grass strip, which was very soft due to the amount of rain, the chance of a nose over was significantly higher than normal. To counter this, I was selected to act as a counter balance and sit on the tail during the taxi in and out to the runway. I have to say..this was most likely the coolest, funnest, and easily the scariest thing I have done to date!! Sean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
drhornii Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 (edited) I was going to have you correct the title then I read your story..."ride ON" is correct! And they gave you a free bucket of prop wash :woot.gif:/> Edited July 15, 2013 by drhornii Quote Link to post Share on other sites
martin_sam_2000 Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 And they gave you a free bucket of prop wash :woot.gif:/>/> very little prop wash actually..it was more a bucket of bugs!! I am still picking them out of my shirt..lol!!! Here is somebody else's video that shows the Sat startup and me riding the tail out. Sean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bad Turbine Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Cool video's. How is that show nowadays? We used to camp all weekend in the early 90's till batavia and Geneseo had there falling out. How was the turn out? It's the coolest show I ever went to now or since. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
B-17 guy Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 You lucky dog! How did you get to do that??!! And where are the rest of your geneseo pics????? Turbine, geneseo is not what it used to be but it is getting better. The last couple of years have been so-so (i missed this year so cant speak for the latest show), but it is getting better. I'm hoping that now that they have the national warplane museum name back it should get bigger and better faster now. This airshow in it's heyday for the late 80's to early 90's is a big part of why I started building models. I couldnt have a real B-17, so I built one, and finally did fuddy duddy! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
martin_sam_2000 Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 You lucky dog! How did you get to do that??!! And where are the rest of your geneseo pics????? Hey B-17, As I told one of the "ramp dawgs" at the show, it was pure, blind, luck. At the crew dinner Fri night the pilot started poking me and then said, and I quote, "Yep, you seem to be of the right mass, you should do" I was a little confused until he told me that he needed tail weight. The second video I posted really shows how much power he needed to get moving. He told me afterwards that he was about 5 seconds away from giving up and shutting down. When I told him I was worried my weight was part of the problem, he told me that if it wasn't for me on the tail..he would have been on the nose if he had used that much power. As for my pictures..they are on the way. I am downloading them from the memory card as I type this. I didn't take as many as usual since I was also doing video AND, I spent 2/3 of my time talking to and answering questions from the public as well as acting as a ground support "team" for the aircraft. The one thing I never got pictures of and I wanted to was how much ice we used in the radiators. With the extreme heat and extra power needed to move on the grass, there was about a 4 minute window between engine start and when he had to be in the air with gear up, otherwise the engine would start to overheat. Sean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
barkin mad Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 You lucky so & so. The only thing that would better that would be a flight in one. Coincidentally one of the BBMF Spitfires actually took a WAAF for a circuit with her hanging onto the tail, during the war. She was doing much the same thing and either the pilot forgot she was there or she did not have enough time to drop off the tail before take off. AFAIK the a/c landed safe & she hopped off the tail. ---------------------------- Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The_Animal Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Well...that was definitely ON a Spitfire. Glad to see you got a once in a lifetime experience with a beautiful ol' warbird. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
worldslaziestbusker Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 (edited) That is very cool. In terms of unique experiences, you are probably ahead of the large number of people who got to ride in a Spitfire. You also win a kudo for your thread title and its rider, but just one, mind. Edited July 16, 2013 by worldslaziestbusker Quote Link to post Share on other sites
martin_sam_2000 Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Coincidentally one of the BBMF Spitfires actually took a WAAF for a circuit with her hanging onto the tail, during the war. She was doing much the same thing and either the pilot forgot she was there or she did not have enough time to drop off the tail before take off. AFAIK the a/c landed safe & she hopped off the tail. Yep, and that was a large part of the safety breif. Basically, if the tail started to come up and I felt it was a lsot cause..bail. If the pilot lined up on the runway and I still havent been given the "get off" signal..BAIL! He wasnt sure if he would rememeber I was there with everything else he was thinking of. Let me tell you..the first ride of the weekend, I was pretty tense! Sean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Sean, COOL!!! WICKED!!!! No one take that memory fom you as you will recall it many many times over....telling your GRANDKIDS in time to come.. Congratulations for being in the right place at the right time....and getting a RIDE ON AN ICONIC AIRCRAFT!!! :wub: :wub: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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